


something more this time

by LilyEllison



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: s03e13 A New Napkin, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-05 06:43:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18360731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyEllison/pseuds/LilyEllison
Summary: "If you were serious about moving back into Matt Murdock’s apartment, I’ll walk you home."Picks up immediately after A New Napkin.





	something more this time

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to get some words in for my [GYWO](http://www.getyourwordsout.net/) pledge and none of my WIPs were cooperating, so I was inspired to write this little scene. Thanks to [Quietshade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quietshade) and [irelandhoneybee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irelandhoneybee) for the beta help! I'm still nervous about writing for this fandom, so I really appreciate it!
> 
> (Title from [This Year's Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzlGZDzdsPg) by David Gray)

The afternoon passed in a blur of smiles and schemes. They cornered Theo about using space in the building and did their best to convince Marci that they could make it work this time. _Business plan, schmisness plan._

Karen’s face hurt from grinning. She thought Foggy’s should’ve probably cracked in half. Neither of them could stop themselves from reaching out to touch Matt a little too frequently—brushing his arm or punching him in the shoulder—like he might at any moment turn back into thin air.

But eventually the wake was over and Nelson’s Meats was tidy again and there was nothing for them to do but go home. Foggy started to propose reconvening at Josie’s, but they could all see that Matt was a little too pale with fatigue. So Foggy and Marci headed uptown and then it was just Karen and the recently undeparted himself.

“I...suddenly realized I don’t know where I’m going,” Matt said, after their goodbyes had died away.

Karen touched his elbow. “If you were serious about moving back into Matt Murdock’s apartment, I’ll walk you home.”

She was half-tempted then to reach down to lace her fingers with his, to let the months fade away and pretend it was a warm night before everything went to hell. But that would give him the wrong idea. She was allowing herself to bask in the elation of _Matt is back_ , the satisfaction of Fisk’s defeat and the excitement of Nelson, Murdock & Page—but she wasn’t over it. She hadn’t _forgiven_ him. Yet.

Still, she wasn't eager to let him out of her sight, either.

“You still seem pretty banged up,” she said sympathetically as they began to walk.

“Wasn’t an easy fight.”

“Are they ever?”

He smiled wanly. Even in the low light, she could see weariness closing its arms around him. He sighed, but then seemed to decide something. He squared his shoulders subtly.

“You’re not going to regret this, Karen. All of us working together again. I pro—“

“Let’s not, OK?”

His head turned toward her, his expression chagrined.

“I don’t want any more promises. We don’t—we don't _need_ them. The only way this works is if you just...show up.”

"Yeah." He nodded slightly, adding quietly, “I know I hurt you.”

“But that didn’t _stop_ you.” And she didn’t want to do this, she didn’t want to get into it with him right now, without a bottle of something strong and Foggy’s irrepressible mediating tendencies, but it was bubbling up of its own accord.

“I thought I was making the only choices I could at the time,” Matt said slowly. “Even if they weren’t the right ones.”

She swallowed hard, something hot and bright in her throat. “Have you really thought about it? How you would feel if you thought I—if you thought _Foggy_ was…” She couldn’t bring herself to say _dead_. “For all that time?”

He stopped walking, but she didn’t wait for him, moving ahead, agitated. Behind her, she heard a soft, “Karen….”

She made it only a little farther before he caught up, touching her arm gently before letting his hand fall away. She stopped but didn’t turn toward him.

“It would be...unimaginable,” he said. “And, God, you must be so sick of me having to say that I’m sorry. I was convinced that you would be better off...”

“Or you would be,” she muttered under her breath, knowing he could hear.

“And I’m still not sure I believe…” He took in a hitching breath and she recognized that sound—the quiet desperation of it.

“What is it?” she asked, finally turning around to face him.

“What if…” He ran his hand through his hair. “Right now, we’re all happy about Fisk being behind bars again. But soon that’s gonna wear off. And what if, then, you decide this is all too much to ask? It seems...too good to be true.”

Damn him. He always did this. He always found a way to squeeze around her heart.

“Listen, Matt,” she sighed. “I think...we have a real chance now. To be more than what we were before. And I agreed to all this because I _want_ that. I want us to be better. I want us to trust each other.”

"I want that, too,” he said, pulling off his glasses. “More than anything.”

And his face looked so pained and hopeful and searching that she couldn't resist reaching up to touch his cheek. He turned the tiniest fraction into her palm and she breathed out slowly, unable to stop herself from thinking of all the moments when she had longed to touch him again, just one last time, _please_.

The anger that had rushed to the surface had receded, and now it was too far away to feel.

"You're really here," she whispered, her breath shuddering through her chest, as if she hadn't been able to believe it before. Her fingers curled into his hair, slid over the back of his neck. Her cheek pressed against his as his arms closed around her.

And it was more than the fact that he was standing in front of her, wanting to really be Matt Murdock again. It was that now, she could be fully Karen Page, too. She remembered his words as they stood outside the church earlier, and she realized that here, now, with all her secrets out and with Matt holding her anyway, she felt _safe_ for the first time in years. After all this lonely time, just maybe she was going to have a home again.

She hugged him closer, pressing her face into his neck, then quickly pulled away. It wasn't the right time to get lost in the moment. But she didn't miss the soft sound he made, as if she had just deprived him of something precious.

She started walking again, suddenly needing to move, to lighten the mood, to do _something_. She turned her head, letting her voice trail after her. "So, to continue this whole theme of working together again, how about I come over tomorrow?" He fell back into step with her, his warm presence comforting at her elbow. "I can help you with all the stuff that's piled up and with getting some groceries. And I can reveal exactly how I reorganized absolutely everything you own."

"You wouldn't," he said accusingly.

"Don't be too sure." She laughed. "But even if I didn't, the FBI probably wasn't too careful. So? What do you say?"

"I'd like that, Karen," he answered. "If it’s really what you want."

They still had so much to talk about. So much to work out, to argue over and make up for. But as they walked the last few steps to his door, she knew that—promise or not—Matt was right. No matter where it all led, she was never going to regret giving it a shot.


End file.
